Bank of China Serbian arm posts loss in H1

BELGRADE (Serbia), October 17 (SeeNews) - Bank of China's Serbian unit, established in January 2017, saw its loss expand to 217.5 million dinars ($2.1 million/1.8 million euro) in the first half of 2018 from 39.8 million dinars in the like period of last year, of the lender's financial statement shows.

Bank of China Serbia a.d. Beograd recorded no net interest income in the first half, while net fee and commission costs totalled 1.1 million dinars in the period under review, according to the interim financial statement of the bank posted on its corporate website.

Total operating costs amounted to 3.2 million dinars in the first half.

The bank's loan portfolio amounted to 90.3 million dinars, while deposits stood at 959.7 million dinars at the end of June.

In January, Bank of China appointed former NBS governor Dejan Soskic and former Serbian economy minister Zeljko Sertic as management board members of Bank of China Serbia a.d. Beograd. Slavisa Aleksic, former manager at Findomestic Banka and Astra Banka, was appointed as executive board member.

Bank of China Hungary owns the entire capital of Bank of China Serbia a.d. Beograd. The Serbian unit of Bank of China will support Chinese and Serbian companies jointly entering third markets and will also offer services to retail customers.